26 Oct 2017

Julie Weitz: The Hand Network, HUMDOG a prelude

Chimento Contemporary

Reviewed by Jeff Hansen

Julie Weitz's The Hand Network, HUMDOG a prelude, a multimedia video project involving choreographed sculpture, cinematography, and a scored soundtrack. The work gives voice to the writings of Carmen "humdog" Hermosillo, a controversial Cuban-American essayist and important figure of cybernetic history and internet subculture.

Cyberspace, depicted as a frozen landscape of ghostly Greek busts, floating hands, penis-shaped candles, and a grid of metal chains, conjures images of the past. A scene of fingertips touching evokes Michelangelo's Creation of Adam.

Weitz gives flesh to the digital with a museum-quality finish. An impeccable C-print hangs in the theater behind viewers like a ghostly sci-fi movie poster. Director David Cronenberg, the YouTube ASMR phenomenon, and philosophers such as Henri Bergson are among many influences on Weitz's anti-CGI aesthetic. The video title, a simple blue font over a black screen, signals the beginning of something mesmerizing, seductive, and new.